The Singing Martyrs of Namugongo

In June 1886, forty-five young men were marched to the hill at Namugongo, Uganda, bound in reed mats and laid on a slow-burning pyre. King Mwanga II had demanded they renounce their Christian faith. They refused. The youngest, Kizito, was barely fourteen. Eyewitnesses reported that as the flames rose, the martyrs were singing — praying aloud, calling on the name of Christ.

These converts had been Christian for barely two years. Anglican and Catholic alike, they had learned the faith from missionaries, and it had taken root so deeply that no threat could dislodge it. Charles Lwanga, their leader, reportedly told the executioner, "You are burning me, but it is as if you are pouring water on my body."

King Mwanga intended to stamp out Christianity in Buganda. Instead, their blood became seed. Within a generation, the faith exploded across East Africa. Today, every June 3rd, over three million pilgrims from dozens of nations walk to the Namugongo shrine — Ugandans, Kenyans, Tanzanians, Congolese, Rwandans — a living river of voices praising the Almighty.

John saw exactly this in Revelation 7: a multitude no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing in white robes before the throne. When the elder asked, "Who are these?" the answer came: "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb." The martyrs of Namugongo understood. The fire was temporary. The song is eternal.